


Frightening Let's get Burning Now

by RougeReii



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2020-06-27 23:26:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19799944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RougeReii/pseuds/RougeReii
Summary: Hongjoong doesn't know how he ended up being the only human member of Ateez, but like hell is he going to let that bring them down. Or 7 times Hongjoong discovered his brothers were ghouls, and one time that he saved them.*Don't need to know Tokyo Ghoul to read this, a brief explanation is in the notes*





	1. Mingi

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing something like this, so sorry if it sucks.  
> Ghouls - Identical to humans except they can only eat human flesh. Their eyes go black & red when agitated. They have enhanced strength & healing.  
> Kagune - a ghoul's biological weapon

Hongjoong considered himself to be an observant person, after all it was a requirement for his job as leader. He was good at avoiding San and Wooyoung's pranks, and knew when to leave before getting pulled into mildly dangerous stunts (he can still see the bruises on both Yunho and Mingi after their attempt at twister. Remarkably, Jongho was unscathed after getting knocked over by two towers.) His team was normally quite hyper and loud, so when he woke up to dead silence, he instinctively knew something was wrong.

He pried himself out of bed, having to untangle himself from his headphones that had wrapped themselves in a knot around him. When he checked the time, he swore under his breath, they had practice in fifteen minutes. Their manager would kill them if they were late. He ran into their shared living room with an apology ready on his lips, only to freeze at the sombre tension in the room. His team was still all dressed in their pyjamas, with varying states of bed hair. They were huddled together on the couch, intently watching the tv. Joong flicked his eyes to the screen, gasping when he saw the vibrant red of a ghoul attack warning. 

Yeosang gave him a small smile, "Good morning hyung, practice was cancelled today because of the ghoul attack. They don't want to risk us getting hurt while the ghoul is hunting."

He nodded slowly. Ghoul attacks were a rare occurrence for his generation, since the distribution of a pill that allowed ghouls to eat human food instead of flesh. It allowed them to blend seamlessly into society, most ghouls no longer being able to identify each other. This however, came at the cost of their superhuman strength. Some ghouls refused to take the pill, and discrimination was still definitely present despite the government's best efforts. When a ghoul did choose to hunt for food, it was a horrific scene.

"I'm guessing it's close then?"

"Next street over, only happened 10 minutes ago."

Well they definitely weren't going anywhere today.

…

The rouge ghoul still hadn't been caught two days later, and they tentatively returned to work. It was tense at first, but as more time passed it soon clear that they were in very little danger. The loud line was back to making Seonghwa and Yeosang want to duct tape their mouths shut. 

Dance practice was uneventful except for attempting to slide the length of the studio in their socks. (Yunho only won due to his stupidly long legs.) As he pulled his shoes on, Mingi tapped his shoulder. 

"Hyung I've been having some problems with my part, could you give me a hand?" 

"No problem Mingi-ah, just give me a second."

They waved goodbye to the rest of the team and retreated into the recording studio. The staff had left earlier, as they were practicing overtime to make up for the time lost due to the ghoul attack. 

He thought that Mingi looked awkward as he entered the recording booth, and the look quickly changed sheepish when Hongjoong asked him which song he was struggling with. 

"Mingi, you're not really having trouble with any of your parts are you?"

"No," he looked guilty as he fiddled with the zip on his jacket, "I'm sorry for lying Hongjoong, but I really didn't want the others to overhear."

"It's ok Mingi-ah, I'm here for more than just rap coaching you know."

"You have enough to deal with without my problems, I'm sorry this was a bad idea," Mingi all but threw the recording booth door open, and Joong only just managed to grab his arm before he fled the room completely. 

"I'm never too busy to help," he pulled Mingi over to the couch, the other rapper not resisting despite his verbal complaints. It took a minute or two before Mingi lifted his tearful eyes to meet his own. 

"You'll hate me. You'll make me leave. You'll be scared-" his voice broke and tears started flowing down his cheeks.

Hongjoong quickly pulled the sobbing boy into a hug, guiding the much taller boy's head into the crook of his neck. Mingi stiffened as if he was going to run again, before melting completely into Hongjoong's touch. He rubbed Mingi's back, trying to sooth his erratic gasping breaths. 

“It’s ok, I’m not leaving, eight makes one team yeah?” He whispers into the taller man's ear, “And I could never be scared of you, you’re my brother.”

His shirt was still soaking up Mingi’s tears, he was just thankful that Mingi was no longer threatening to completely shut down on him. Mingi might have been their resident scaredy-cat, but it was rare for him to utterly break like this. Joong’s heart bled for him, and he vowed to fix this issue as soon as he could so his brother could return to being his loud, ridiculous self. He rocked them slowly back and forth, regularly having to reaffirm the rapper. As much as he wanted to press the issue to solve it, he knew that Mingi was in no condition to talk. 

The only sound in the room now were Mingi’s occasionally sniffle and the soft hum of the electric lights. He had calmed significantly, and it was really getting too late to push the sensitive topic now. 

“Mingi-ah, let's go home,” He began to stand, but started when Mingi pulled him back with a surprising amount of force, keeping his head buried in his shoulder.

“I need a little longer. Please give me a minute,” he mumbled into his shoulder.

“Take as long as you need, I’ll wait.”

“Sorry, hyung. I made you stay up late and wasted your time because I’m so pathetic that I can’t even-”

“Mingi, look at me-“

At this, Mingi let out an almost pitiful shriek that made his heart skip a beat with worry. Had something happened and he hadn’t noticed? His mind raced with all kinds of worst case scenarios. 

"Breath with me 'gi. Nothing's going to happen." 

Of course at that moment, the unmistakable sound of glass shattering echoed through the empty building. Joong's heart dropped to his stomach and he instinctively stiffened. He knew he wasn't hallucinating as Mingi had frozen in his arms. Heavy footsteps resonated down the hall, accompanied by an eire grinding noise that sent shivers up his spine. Silence reigned for a second, before a loud bang that caused the walls to shake. 

No human had that kind of strength. 

If he was correct in identifying which was the noise came from, they were absolutely trapped. With a man eating monster. And with no phones, they never brought them to practice. Way to jinx it Hongjoong. Which meant their only option was to hide. The area most sheltered from the door was the recording booth.

"Mingi, we need to move," he whispered, "I won't look." 

Mingi nodded his head in affirmation, prying himself off of Joong to let him get up. Keeping his gaze fixed on the booth, he crept towards it, Mingi's hand on his shoulder to let him know that he was following. The door was luckily still open, so they didn't have to worry about the noise of opening it alerting the ghoul. Mingi carefully slid the door shut behind them. They huddled in the far corner, Joong watching the door and Mingi once again curled into his side. He didn't doubt for a second that the other boy was alert, he could feel the rappers fingers clenching and unclenching in the fabric of Joong's jacket. 

The footsteps echoed closer, slow and steady. The grinding noise had stopped but had been replaced by the dragging of something. Joong prayed that it wasn't someone's body. 

"It's the Kagune," Mingi murmured, "It's definitely not a person."

If Mingi was actually sure about that or just trying to convince himself, he had no idea. They could use all the reassurance that they could get right now. The footsteps halted in front of the studio. Joong could only hear his heartbeat as the door to the main area inched open. He almost wished the ghoul had just knocked the door down. The foil advanced to the center of the room.

A soft and feminine voice called out, "Two little pieces of prey hiding from me, oh I do enjoy hide and seek." 

The ghoul stepped towards the window gazing into their hiding spot. Joong knew that it was a shallow means of protection, but it had brought them a few extra seconds of hope & life. He caught the ghouls red and black eyes through the glass, her purple and red Kagune swirling around her right arm from her shoulder blade. Her clothes were ripped and speckled with blood. She slowly smiled revealing blood stained teeth. She drew her Kagune back to strike the glass barrier. His tears overflowed

"I love you Mingi, I love you so much." He clutched Mingi as close as he could, crying openly into his hair. 

"Time's up boys."

The glass shattered. 

"I love you too Joong, I'm sorry," Mingi's voice was watery, but there was something hidden beneath.

Determination. 

Before he could even try to understand, a searing pain burned through his shoulder, and he couldn’t fight his instinctual reaction to cry out. He pushed against the body pressed to his that only seemed to be getting stronger by the second. Black spots danced across his vision and he couldn’t help but let out a feeble whine. Static filled his head and drained his strength. And then he was released slouching weakly against the wall. He felt around for Mingi’s comforting presence, only to find himself alone. Had the ghoul decided to get Mingi first before coming back for him? Or what if she didn’t like the way he tasted and decided to leave him alive but eat his brother. 

A loud crash and a scream of agony drew his attention, he quickly blinked his tears and spots away to see Mingi wrestling with the ghoul on the floor. They rolled across shattered glass snarling, before the female ghoul flipped herself on top of him, quickly thrusting her Kagune towards Mingi’s chest. Mingi growled violently underneath her, twisting his hips before a flash of blue sent the ghoul flying across the room. 

Four blue and black tentacle-like appendages had sprouted from the rappers lower back. The black cut along the vibrant blue like infected veins, if you fused it with a lava lamp. Mingi was positioned in a low crouch, his black and red eyes narrowed at the ghoul who was laughing hysterically. 

“So the coward has some fight left in him,” She sneered.

“It’s not cowardly to not want to eat my friends.”

“You live like a human, so you shall die like a human,” The ghoul disappeared into thin air, before barreling into Mingi.

As the fight continued, it quickly became apparent to him that Mingi had very little fighting experience, his movements had a dance like grace, and he was able to dodge any serious hits, but he was unable to hit back effectively. He brought his elbow down towards her head, she blocked and bit down harshly on his wrist. The district crack of bone echoed in a symphony alongside Mingi’s pained shout. She sliced forward with her kagune, before stopping centimeters away from Mingi’s throat. She looked over at him with Mingi’s hand still in her mouth, and beckoned him over.

Joong staggered to his feet, approaching the ghoul despite Mingi’s protests. He gave Mingi his leader look. He couldn’t watch Mingi die trying to protect him. The ghoul reached out a hand to stroke his face, drawing a slow line across his jawline. She swapped her grip on Mingi into her other hand to free her mouth.

“Such a delicate creature.” She drew him close as if for a kiss.

Trying not to think, he head butted the ghoul as hard as he could. Her expression twisted into one of pure rage. 

"You insolent-" She coughed up blood onto Joong's face. 

Mingi's Kagune had ripped a whole through her chest. The Kagune pulled out with an awful squelch. The ghoul collapsed to the ground, blood pooling around the body. 

He looked over at Mingi. With blood splattering his clothes, smeared over his mouth and dripping down his Kagune, combined with his tall stature made him look even more demonic than the rouge ghoul. Mingi turned his head to Joong slowly, eyes wide with fear. His Kagune disappeared behind him, but his eyes stayed the same red & black. He cradled his injured wrist carefully.

"Thank you, Mingi-ah." 

"W-What?"

"You saved my life." 

Mingi cast his eyes to the ground. "I didn't want you to find out this way."

"This is what you were trying to tell me earlier?"

"She was right. I'm a fake and a coward."

Joong stepped forward shakily to embrace him, "It takes a lot of courage to live your truth. It takes even more to make yourself into something you hate to save someone that you love. Thank you Mingi-ah," He gave him the best smile he could muster. 

"So you're not scared of me?" 

"I'm more scared of how low your self-esteem is." 

Mingi blinked, his eyes returning to their normal warm brown. His expression switched to alarm.

"Is your shoulder ok?"

Joong glanced at his shoulder, it was already clotting, Mingi hadn't bitten deeply enough for it to need stitches. 

"It'll be ok. We'll go past the security feed on the way home, we'll need to erase the security footage of your fight."

"But-"

"No buts," Joong said sternly, "I'm not letting my brother go to jail because of institutional bias after being forced to fight because the law enforcement couldn't do their job."

Mingi's smile lit up his whole face.

… 

"What the fuck guys."

Naturally, when they returned to the dorm covered in blood and injured, the rest of their team flew into a frenzy. Wooyung raced over, calling for someone to grab the first aid kit. 

"What happened?" Seonghwa finally asked after he and Mingi had been patched up and settled on the couch. 

"We were attacked by a ghoul at the studio. I fought her off." Mingi stated flatly.

"But the only way to do that would be - oh.." Jongho said. 

"I trust that this won't be a problem?" Joong was met with a chorus of outrage at the idea. Maybe if he and Mingi hadn't fallen asleep almost instantly with relief and from the adrenaline crash; they would have seen the envious looks sent towards Mingi, for having the courage to openly live his truth.


	2. Seonghwa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one isn't as long as Mingi's but I hope that it's still ok. My school starts up again tomorrow so updates may be less frequent from now on. I got news that the Chaplin at my school passed away last night, so this chapter is a tribute to him. Rest in piece Dr Wilshire.

Joong's least favorite part about the experience with Mingi was easily the puns. Aside from almost dying. Ever since the rest of Ateez found out that he'd hacked the security footage, they had been making non-stop jokes about how Joong should hack the voting sites, and using as many technology based puns as the knew (thankfully, they didn't know many). Mingi had taken to using his Kagune to grab the remote, toss whoever was hogging the couch onto the floor or to hug more of them. He had even seen Mingi use it to squish a spider while Wooyung laughed at him. 

So nothing had really changed. 

Especially when they got the news that they had a day off. Joong knew that he at least had almost been ready to beg the managers for a rest. His plan of sleeping till noon and then doing diy crafts was cut short at not even eight in the morning by Seonghwa flattening him into the mattress. He couldn’t help but let out a tired groan. 

“Hyung ‘m sleeping.”

Seonghwa rolled off of Joong, rearranging them so he was spooning him. He felt a brush of breath against his previously injured shoulder, Seonghwa runners his hand over the slightly raised flesh. 

“Most people wouldn’t have coped well with that Joong.”

He rolled over to face the elder, “Then it’s a good thing I’m not like most people.”

“I figured that out when you grew the mullet.”

Hongjoong shot him the harshest glare he could. Seonghwa held his hands up in mock surrender. 

“How about a hyung’s day out Joong?” Seonghwa gave him his best puppy dog eyes, a move which he had definitely stolen from San. 

“It’s a date.”

The look on Seonghwa’s flushed face made being smothered with a pillow worth it. 

…

It was another two hours before Joong gave in and let Seonghwa drag him out of the dorm, noting the multitude of puddles lining the streets. He watched as kids ran past them, spraying each other with water as their exasperated parents looked on. It was hard to believe that so little time ago any one of those kids could have been forced to fight and kill for food. Seonghwa gave him a gentle nudge, drawing him away from his thoughts as he followed the elder down a side street.

“Where are we going hyung?”

“Just to a nearby cafe.”

Apparently the two of them have very different definitions of nearby as they walk for almost 45 minutes before arriving at their destination. The cafe is nothing remarkable, but Joong has a suspicion that there was a reason that Seonghwa had chosen this place. Almost as if he sensed Joong’s next round of complaints, Seonghwa pushed open the old wooden door. The bell chimed sweetly in his ear and he had to admit the atmosphere of the place made it worth the walk. Walls lined with books of all kinds joined with less ugly grandma-sequence wallpaper and the scent of fresh coffee & chocolate in the air, it instantly reminded him of home. Seonghwa guided him towards the far corner, where an old man was already seated. The old man appeared to be of cacucasian descent, with grey hair, glasses and a multi-coloured knitted scarf. 

“You must be Hongjong, Seonghwa has spoken highly of you,” he spoke with an Australian, “He tells me that you are a very good leader. Please call me Dr Wilshire.”

He looked at Seonghwa with curiosity, how had Seonghwa met this man? As if reading his mind, Seonghwa responded.

“Dr Wilshire has been a mentor of mine since before I was a trainee. I was caught in a bad situation and he offered me refuge in his church.” That only really added to his questions for the two men, but he knew that he could trust Seonghwa’s judgement.

The group of three ordered coffee and the three men fell into comfortable conversation. Dr Wilshire peered over his glasses at him as Seonghwa excused himself to the bathroom.

“You’ve had a run in with a rouge ghoul recently.” 

Joong’s hand protectively went to where the scar was left under his shirt, “How can you tell? Did Seonghwa tell you?”

“No, he did not. When ghouls no longer had to hunt for food for the first time in history, my church was flooded with ghoul’s desperate to repent their sins. Some fell tearfully into my arms and asked me to teach them how to be human. I told them that they were already human enough, for they had human emotions,” he took a deep sip of his coffee, “I tell you this as a warning Hongjoong, you cannot fix people if they do not want to be fixed.” 

A few minutes later he bid the two of them farewell, paying for the three of them on the way out. The two began the walk back to their dorm, noting the heavy clouds that had begun to gather. The sound of screaming from behind them quickly caused both to whip around. 

“What was that?” Joong questioned like Seonghwa could possibly know.

“We should probably check it out.”

They bolted back the way they’d come, Seonghwa leading him down a narrow alleyway before stopping abruptly, and pulling Hongjoong aside. He instinctively tried to fight but stilled instantly as he followed Seonghwa’s gaze to the roof above them. A young man stood with only the heels of his feet left on the concrete ledge. Joong could see the black and red gaze of his eyes as he looked upon them. His whole appearance was dead and almost lifeless, Joong could see far to prominent cheekbones.

Then the man fell forwards.

In an instant Seonghwa flashed towards the falling man, and Joong watched a singular tail-like appendage launch upwards to slow the ghoul’s descent. The ghoul grabbed Seonghwa’s Kagune, and flipped himself so that the sharp tip slashed through his jugular. A spray of red coated the ground beneath the two ghouls, contrasting Seonghwa’s beautiful monochrome Kagune. He turned to Joong with shock clear on his face, obviously trying to find the words. Tears welled in his black and red eyes. 

He quickly moved forward pulling the elder further down the alley, away from the body, fully embracing him when the morbid scene was out of sight. Seonghwa moved to look at the drying blood on his Kagune, before Joong grabbed his jaw, forcing red eyes to meet brown. 

“You did nothing wrong Hwa, you tried your best,” Joong stated firmly, “You acted when all I could do was stand and watch.”

“I killed him,” Seonghwa stuttered out.

“You did the right thing.”

“It wasn’t meant to be sharp,” His breath hitched, he sounded seconds away from tears, falling completely against Hongjoong as the dam broke. 

He sat the two of them down in the alley and let the elder cry, while trying his best to reassure him that it was an accident and that he was a better man than Hongjoong was. Every time he tried to compare his lack of action with Seonghwa’s botched heroism, the elder would lightly hit his leg with his Kagune.

Eventually rain began to fall, he coaxed Seonghwa to his feet and led him forwards towards the closest bus stop. The elder had withdrawn his kagune, eyes now only red from crying. As they walked past the ghoul, Joong numbly noted that the man looked barely over fifteen in his peaceful endless slumber. 

As they sat at the bus stop, Seonghwa spoke again, “How are you so calm?”

He wasn’t so sure himself, “I think Dr Wilshire helped. You can’t help someone who has already given up.” 

Seonghwa bit his lip, “When I saw him, all I saw was you guys in that position. Promise me that you won’t Joong, please.”

He grabbed Seonghwa’s hand, interlocking their fingers, “I would never, Hwa.”

“My parents were among those at Dr Wilshire’s church begging for forgiveness. That's really how I know him.” 

“Are you ok with being a ghoul?” he visibly cringed at his poor word choice, “Mingi was really conflicted about it.”

Seonghwa furrowed his brow, seemingly thankful for the change in topic, “I guess it’s ok, I’m not exactly confident in it, who would be with our history?” 

The bus pulled up, spraying them both with water, they quietly boarded as their conversation was too personal to risk having on public transport. He noticed as they walked passed the driver that Seonghwa’s nose scrunched up in disgust. He himself could smell the alcohol on the drivers breath. 

“This isn’t safe,” he whispered to Seonghwa, who shook his head in response, “We should get off as soon as we can.”

They jolted as the bus lurched forwards, Seonghwa practically pulling the smaller into his lap as they felt the bus skid around the corner. The bus was empty towards the back where they were seated. The sound of several horns honking made him cling tighter to his hyung. He looked out the window to see a red traffic light through the water droplets as they continued forwards. 

A large jolt hit the front of the bus, and the grating sound of metal crumpling metal rang in his ears. Their end of the bus swang away from the collision sight, he looked to see an abandoned building directly outside their window. All he could do was let out a pathetic gasp and bury himself in Seonghwa’s chest. 

They collided with the wall, it crashing down around them. He felt himself and Seonghwa get launched into the air by the force, glass shards whizzed by ears. He felt the sting of cold air hit him, his stomach in his mouth as he awaited his meeting with the ground.

It never came. 

He looked up at Seonghwa, who had managed to orient himself onto his feet, using his Kagune for balance. He scrambled out of the elders hold, quickly checking him over for injuries, breathing a sigh of relief when he couldn’t find any. Seonghwa seemed to have been doing the same thing as him judging by his relieved face. 

They walked the long way home to avoid getting caught up in the accident, the rain soaking them both to the bone. They described that they’d keep the days events to themselves to avoid worrying their younger teammates more than necessary, as most were still shaken from the recording studio incident.

...

It was kind of funny the way that Jongho and Yeosang fussed over them, delivering hot chocolates and blankets galore as they settled in for a movie.

But not as funny as Mingi’s face when Seonghwa stole his trick of using his kagune to toss the couch-hogging rapper onto the floor. The others looked on shocked for about two seconds before beginning to cheer Seonghwa on for finally giving Mingi a taste of his own medicine.


	3. Yunho

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kudos and comments, I was not expecting this to be popular. Here we have Yunho's chapter, please enjoy!

Hongjoong loved Japan. He loved the food, the fashion, and music. He loved being able to meet their foreign fans and deliver their message through music despite the language barrier. 

But he hated their anti-ghoul policies. 

He'd always thought that they were needlessly cruel, and had always argued on the side of extermination at UN meetings. They were the last country to legalize the pills that allowed ghouls to eat human food, and still required all ghouls to wear a black steel collar so they could be easily recognized. 

And considering he had at least two ghouls under his care, he could not have been more relieved when they all passed the RC cell scanners successfully, neither Mingi or Seonghwa being detected. The cheers they got when they saw their Atiny was enough to drain the remaining tension from the members shoulders. It broke his heart to think of the way Mingi and Seonghwa had clung to each other after being told they were going to Japan. The absolute terror in their eyes had made him want to beg their management to cancel the trip. 

He looked behind him to see Seonghwa and Mingi being flanked by the other members, firmly keeping a protective ring around them. Wooyoung had attempted to drape himself over Mingi's back causing San to do the same to Seonghwa in mock jealousy. He heard lots of giggles and shouts of kawaii at his member's antics. They passed smoothly through their fans, and he felt a sense of pride at how well they kept they respected their personal space. Eventually he saw a break in the fans, but didn't have to wonder why for long. A barricade and guards separated several nervous looking collared fans from them. Only a few uncollared people hung around talking to their friends over the divider. 

As they approached, security gestured for them to stay back from the barricade. In direct defiance, Yunho broke away from their small group, bounding up toward the ghouls like a six foot puppy. A few of the ghouls shrank away from him as he reached the barricade, but more looked on in apprehension, as if waiting for him to spit on them. A little girl near the front that Joong thought couldn’t be older than about then clung to her mother's leg. He approached slowly as he saw Yunho crouch down reach his hand through the gap in the barricade towards her. Nobody spoke as the little girl hesitantly released her death grip and slowly take his hand. Camera flashes erupted around the two, and the girl startled. Yuho strengthen his grip and pulled her to the edge of the barricade and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead. By then Joong was close enough to hear Yunho whisper ‘I love you.’ 

The sound of sniffing caused Joong’s attention to shift over to the mother. Large tears rolled down her face as she tried to mute her sobs with her hand. He offered her his best smile before pulling her into a hug. He let her nuzzle her face into the crook of his neck as she repeatedly thanked him. He tried his best to tell her that she didn’t need to thank him, before letting go and dropping into a deep bow while Yunho thanked her. He could hear even more camera flashes going off and he knew that this could possibly create their first controversy but he couldn’t care less. Then realised with a jolt that the security hadn’t ripped them away from the ghouls. He whipped around before very quickly landing on the answer. Behind them the rest of Ateez had formed a protective semi-circle around them, staring down security. 

Wooyoung was the first to break out of the defensive position, grabbing Yeosang’s hand and skipping like a child towards the ghouls. Yeosang laughed a little at him before pulling him to a stop to link hands with a fan who was brave enough to reach out to him. As a group they made sure that none of their ghoul fans felt like less than human, slowly proceeding through the last wave of fans. As they piled into their van he saw absolutely no regret on any of his members faces. Eight makes one team, they stand together or not at all.

...

So that’s how they ended up trending on Twitter much to their surprise. Majority of the responses were positive and for that he was grateful because otherwise he knew the management would rip into Yunho like a pack of hungry wolves. He glanced away from his phone to the empty bed next to him. Yunho had told him that he was going to crash San and Wooyoung’s V-live but it had been almost an hour since it had ended. He knew that it wasn’t uncommon for the 99 line to forget what the time was in their antics, but they had a schedule tomorrow. He groaned as he pulled himself out from under the warm covers and dragged himself along the hallway to San and Mingi’s room that the later had been kicked out of. He was likely just going to swap with Woo and crash with Jongho tonight. 

When he knocked on the door a very confused San greeted him. 

“Is Yunho-ah still here?”

“He left a while ago. Maybe he went to see the others?”

Joong felt his heart drop. He quickly bid them goodnight before hurrying to check the other member’s rooms. Still no Yunho. He decided to check back into their shared room in case he’d just missed Yunho. The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the room was that the window of their room had been carelessly thrown open, a cold breeze circling the room. The second thing he noticed was that the bathroom light flicked off followed immediately by a heavy sounding thump. The tell tale sound of shampoo bottles collapsing like dominoes indicated that there was someone in the shower.

Ignoring as his mind screamed intruder, he turned the light back on, only to be met with a small whine. He gasped as he caught sight of Yunho sprawled across the shower tiles, scarlet blood beginning to pool around him like a demonic halo. Yunho took a shuddering breath as he tried to push himself onto his knees. He dangerously pitched over towards the wall, Joong barely being able to stabilise the younger. 

Yunho looked like shit. His formerly cream shirt had been ripped in several places, bloody roses blooming across his chest. His black pants prevented him from seeing the amount of blood lost, and it took all of his willpower not to turn and bolt to the toilet at the sight of a bone protruding from Yunho’s skin near his knee. His face was too pale and his eyes were unfocused. 

“H’ung it ‘urts,” He slurred, “Make it stop.” 

“Hang on Yunho, I need to call the hospital.”

“Can’t, not here.” Yunho pleaded, a hand weakly tugged at Joong’s shirt. 

A truck roared past their open window, causing Yunho to startle back into the shower screen. He let out a terrified shriek, eyes immediately glow red and black, as gold and black wings erupted from his back. They hung limply by his sides as he curled back up into a ball, letting out a desperate sob. Joong hated to compare ghouls to animals, but Yunho certainly fit the part of an injured cornered animal. His breathing was coming rough and uncontrolled, a shaky rattle accompanied his pained gasps. 

He lowered himself to Yunho, trying to make himself seem as small and unthreatening as possible. He started to hum a soft rhythm as he gently reached out to his injured teammate, hesitating just before his hand met Yunho’s shoulder. 

“I’m going to touch you now, ok?” All he got in response was another pain filled groan as Yunho tried to give him an answer.

He laid his hand on Yunho’s shoulder and internally sighed in relief when the younger didn’t flinch at the contact, instead trying to press further into it. He moves his other hand to stroke through Yunho’s hair, his normally soft locks matted with blood. He knew he didn’t have long before Yunho passed out, he could feel the sluggish rise and fall of his chest. He also knew that ghoul’s healed much faster when they were able to feed on human flesh to replenish their RC cells. It also generally makes them stronger and faster, as Mingi had guiltily explained why he had bitten him. 

“Yunho, I’m going to have to move you a bit and it’s going to hurt,” a small tug on his sleeve signaled that Yunho had heard him, and before he could second guess his decision, he pulled the younger into his lap as he leant against the shower wall. 

Yunho groaned into his chest, letting his head hang. He could feel the spasms of pain assaulting the ghoul from their proximity. Tears bled into the fabric of his shirt, and he could feel the fabric begging to absorb Yunho’s blood as well as his tears. He whispered words of praise to Yunho as he reached up for the razor he had left in the shower last night. He took a look at Yunho’s position, trying to figure out where the easiest spot for him to feed from would be. He settled on his left bicep, easy enough to cover with a shirt but not high enough to constrict his motion in his shoulder. He cut away the sleeve to the best of his ability. He turned Yunho’s head towards his exposed arm, his eyes unfocused, and rested it on his shoulder, before taking a deep breath and slicing into his arm. 

Yunho let another whine out as the smell of blood assaulted him, and let Joong guide his head towards the source. He started to weakly lap at the cut, before biting down to give himself better access. Joong used his shaking forearm to help support Yunho, continuing to stroke the others hair. The at first hesitant gulps of blood started to increase with desperation, as Yunho tried to heal himself. 

It wasn’t long before Joong felt himself start to tremble, and he knew that he was starting to reach his limit of how much blood he could give the younger without any complications. The rattle in his breathing had gone but as he realised when he looked down at Yunho’s leg, there was still too much damage left to heal to get him to stop now. Yunho must have felt his shaking as he tried to pull away, only for Joong to push him back towards the wound. He knew the younger didn’t have enough strength yet to resist. 

He didn’t know how long it was before black spots started dancing in front of his eyes. His left arm was completely numb, and he pulled weakly against Yunho’s hair. Almost simultaneously, Yunho pulled away from his arm with a gasp. His kagune circled around them in a protective shell as he reversed their positions. Joong couldn’t focus on much other than the shifting gold veins. He reached out his uninjured arm and traced along them. Yunho’s kagune was surprisingly warm to touch, feeling a lot like a warm electric blanket.

“Warm,” he mumbled, “and pretty.”

He vaguely remembers Yunho shaking him and yelling his name before black takes over his vision.

…

He awakens to the sound of absolute panic. Someone’s shouting, there’s definitely crying coming from nearby and someone else is letting out pained whimpers. He forces his eyes open to see what exactly is going on. Immediately there’s a rush of movement, and someone’s helping him sit up and have something to drink. As soon as the world stops spinning he comes face to face with a very worried San and Yeosang. 

“Is Yunho okay?” 

Yeosang rolled his eyes while San answered him, “He’s just sleeping on Jongho over there,” He looked over where San pointed, barely being able to see Jongho in the tangle of limbs.

“Hongjoong, what you did was really stupid. You shouldn’t have let Yunho take that much,” Yeosang’s voice was soft, but his undertone dripped with anger. 

“He was dying,” his voice cracked slightly but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“We know,” San said gently, “And you had to almost kill yourself to save him because of Japan’s stupid ghoul laws.”

He didn’t have a response to that, luckily, that’s when Mingi, Seonghwa and Wooyoung came back with food. They immediately hounded him with questions, which woke up Yunho and Jongho. The youngest helped Yunho up, his injured leg not supporting his weight well. He also didn’t miss the faint tear tracks on both of their faces. Yunho curled up next to Joong, Jongho clinging to his other side.

“Thank you Jongho,” Yunho sounded exhausted, “Thank you for saving me Hyung.”

“What happened?” Asked Seonghwa

“I was attacked by ghoul hunters, I don’t know how they figured it out, but they attacked me and I barely escaped. They didn’t get a good look at my face, so they couldn’t identify me.” His tone was clipped, and he sounded like he was seconds away from breaking down again.

“It’s not your fault.” 

“I know hyung.”

It was clearly something Yunho didn’t want to talk about, and nobody pressed him. Joong was glad to find out that his team had cleaned up the mess, and that Seonghwa and Mingi had managed to convince their manager to put off today’s schedule till later, claiming they had both gotten food poisoning overnight. Joong barely managed a thank you to them before he had fallen back asleep.


	4. Jongho

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I’m really sorry for the long delay, I really appreciated all the comments even though I haven’t responded to any yet, but I will be responding to comments from this chapter onwards! I hope that you enjoy!

Of all the problems that could have arisen after Yunho’s brutal attack, this particular scenario didn’t even make it into Joong’s top one hundred possibilities. On the surface, the rest of their activities in Japan went off without a hitch, for which Hongjoong was very grateful for. Both he and Yunho had managed to hide any signs of their injuries, the stylists somehow believing his claim that it was a wild dog that had caused his injury, or they were just taking pity on him. Either way, he doesn’t particularly care as long as none of his members were unwillingly exposed as being ghouls. Especially while they were in Japan. He couldn’t suppress the shudder that ran through him at the thought of any of his teammates in a collar.

Their last promotional activity was a photoshoot, and while the cameras were rolling, everything was exactly as it should have been. However, as soon as the cameras stopped rolling, Joong knew that things would be anything but normal. The cameraman was currently getting a group shot of the vocal line, and all attention was subsequently on them. He felt a slight tap on his shoulder, and turned to see a very concerned looking Wooyoung, and a further glance revealed the other members hanging with earshot, but not enough to seem like they were having a secret meeting.

“Hyung,” Wooyoung whispered, “is Jongho ok?”

He shook his head helplessly , “I don’t know Woo, he hasn’t spoken to me about it, and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t spoken to Seonghwa yet either.”

Woo bit his lip, and shifted his weight from foot to foot, “He’s so scared Hongjoong-hyung, I don’t think he’s slept a full night since Yunho’s incident, I got up to go to the bathroom during the night, and he was in tears when I got back, I don’t think he knows that I know, you know? And Yeo says he’s been avoiding anyone who’s not an Ateez member as much as he can and I-” He choked, and Joong quickly pulled him into a hug.

“It might not be okay now, but it will be, I promise.”

“I’d rather you promised to stop injuring yourself in ghoul related incidents.” Wooyoung muttered against his collarbone.

“If it keeps you guys safe, then no promises.”

He knew Wooyoung had a protest on the tip of his tongue, but he was quickly pulled away for a visual line photoshoot with Yeosang and Seonghwa. The rest of the photoshoot passed in the blink of an eye, and Hongjoong knew that when he looked back on this day, all he would ever remember was the half-broken state of their maknae. 

…

Hongjoong may or may not have spent the time leading up to dinner colluding with his members to get Jongho to talk to them. He knew if Jongho suspected anything then he would just become even more closed off, and that could only lead to more problems. Hence, he left the planning to Yeosang, because no one ever suspects him, and he’s always the smartest in these situations. 

Yeosang didn’t do anything mastermind like at dinner, nor back at the hotel while they were packing up for their 3am flight. Yet somehow, he ended up with Jongho plastered to his side in the van, forcing Joon to sacrifice half of his seat and the circulation in his left arm as Jongho basically koalaed it. Yeosang sent him a small wink from his seat on the other side of the van. He knew he couldn't say anything to Jongho while their managers were this close. He rubbed slow circles on the other’s thigh, grimacing when he realised how tense Jongho was. Jongho buried his head in the crook of Joong’s neck, breathing in a pattern too measured to be natural. 

Thankfully there weren’t any fans or reportes around due to the early hour, so they managed to shuffle leisurely through the airport. Joong couldn’t help but notice how desolate the airport looked, its monochrome colour scheme reminding him of a ghost town. Baggage check in went as expected, before they were split up for identification checks and to go through the RC cell scanners. They shuffled them through the scanners, oldest to youngest. They made it through safely again. 

Almost. 

As Jongho tried to step out from under the scanner, the young security officer stopped him. Jongho’s previously blank expression had shifted to one of pure fear, as he instinctively stepped away from the officer. The officer gestured for Jongho to stay where he was, before turning to call one of his colleagues. A thousand different scenarios ran through Joong’s mind, all of which ended with an even more traumatized maknae. He mimed slow breaths as Jongho begins to hyperventilate, knowing that rushing to his side would only make them seem more suspicious. He could hear the nervous whispers being passed between their managers as the rest of Ateez stood in shocked silence. An older woman shortly appeared, even though it felt like an eternity, as he wanted nothing more than to comfort his youngest dongsaeng who was getting paler by the second. 

The older woman took one look at the small screen, and let out a large sigh. She beckoned Jongho over to them. Joong figured that had to be a good sign, he knew if they truly thought the younger was a ghoul he’d already be in custody. Jongho walked slowly on shaky legs over to the security officers, who he was surprised to see offer genuinely concerned smiles to the younger. He saw Jongho risk a side glance over to them, quickly mouthing for help. Joong slipped over to his maknae, resting what he hoped was a calming hand on his shoulder. The older woman pointed to a red bar on the screen.

“RC cells too low,” she said in broken korean, “not healthy,” she turned to Hongjoong, “you help him?”

“Yes I’ll help him,” he quickly reassured the woman. She gave him a large smile before waving them back over to their group. 

Hongjoong let his hand slip from Jongho’s shoulder down to around his waist as they bid the officers goodbye. He could feel the way Jongho’s breath stuttered in his chest. He certainly didn’t miss the way that Jongho circled his arm around Joong’s own waist, fingers desperately gripping the fabric of his shirt. 

“What happened?” Mingi asked.

“Jongho’s RC cell count is abnormally low. They were worried about his health.”

Their manager nodded before checking his watch, “You kids have about an hour before we board, go have some fun,” he stifled a yawn before he left with the rest of their management. 

“Are you ok, Jongho?” Seonghwa asked gently.

Jongho’s grip tightened further as he shook his head, choking out a broken sob as he curled in on himself, “I can’t breath hyung, I can’t, I can’t-”

“You can do it, Jong, just follow my breathing,” Joong coaxed, “We’re just going to go somewhere a bit quieter, ok?”  
He focused his attention on Jongho, letting his teammates guide him through the airport. Jongho’s panicked gasps for breath becoming louder and his steps becoming more and more unsteady. They soon arrived at a nearby bathroom, and Joong figured that it was probably as much privacy as they could give Jongho at the moment. Besides he didn’t think Jongho was going to be able to walk much further, nor did he want him to have to walk much further in amidst a panic attack. He quickly promised to yell for help if he needed it, before ushering Jongho into a stall. 

He almost had a heart attack when Jongho’s weight suddenly went dead. Swallowing his panic, he lowered his maknae down against the wall. He crouched down, pushing sweaty bangs out of the younger’s face. He saw suddenly struck by how young and helpless Jongho looked; as unfocused watery eyes gazed blankly at him. He took one of Jongho’s shaking hands into his own, placing the other one on his chest.

“Jongho, are you still with me? Squeeze my hand twice for yes, if you can’t talk.”

Two squeezes.

“I need you to slow your breathing, try and match mine, ok?”

No response. Jongho’s head started to lul.

“Jongho?” He couldn’t keep the slight panic out of his voice as he squeezed Jongho’s hand.

Jongho snapped his head back up with a strangled, “Sorry hyung.” 

Jongho tugged shyly at their linked hands, pulling them slowly to his face. His skin glistened with sweat and tears. Joong let his center of gravity shift forwards at the coaxing of Jongho’s other hand until he was seated in the younger’s lap, chest to chest. Joong honestly had not expected Jongho to accept physical comfort during a panic attack, much less actively seek it out. He felt Jongho’s rapid, hot breath against his hand, no longer quite so ragged. 

“That’s it Jongho, it’s all okay.” 

He felt Jongho’s breath hitch, before he exhaled slowly, “Thank you, hyung.”

“You don’t have to thank me Jongho, I should be thanking you for trusting me.”

They sat in relative silence for a few minutes as Jongho’s breathing evened out. He absentmindedly twisted Joong’s rings around. 

“You have something else on your mind,” Joong noted.

“Yeah,” the younger admitted slowly, “I don’t really know how to describe it though.”

“Just try.”  
Jongho let out a huff, nuzzling further into Joong’s collarbone, “you know that I normally don’t like physical affection, it makes me feel trapped and overwhelmed if that makes sense. But something about you is so grounding hyung. You’re so soft but unyielding at the same time, and my heart tells me that you’re just so safe and trustworthy even though logically I know that you have a breaking point like everyone else. I don’t want to be the one to push you over the edge, I wanted to protect you and the others but I couldn’t. It scared me so much when I couldn’t do anything to help you or Yunho, and for a moment I thought you were going to die and I had no idea how to deal with that, because you don’t realize how fragile you humans are to ghouls.”

He gently pulled his rambling maknae’s head up to look at him in the eye, tearful brown eyes flickering to red and black. He gently wiped away the tears as they began to fall again, pressing a soft kiss to Jongho’s forehead.

“We’re a team forever, all eight of us, no matter if we’re ghoul or human. I know you ghouls will protect us human members as much as you can, and us humans will protect you ghouls as much as we can too. I push myself because I know you guys will be there to catch me when I fall, so let me catch you too.”

A small but genuine smile broke across Jongho’s face, and he let his eyes settle into a non-threatening black and red, “Thank you hyung. Thank you for everything.” 

…

Back at the dorm, Joong was woken up to the sound of yelling, followed by his door being slammed open by a cackling Wooyoung as he was chased by a very embarrassed looking Jongho.

“Jongho thinks that you smell good.” 

“Wooyoung I’m going to stab you.”

“Oh no I’m so scared, help me hyung.” Wooyoung sarcastically screeched as he hid behind Joong as Jongho activated his Kagune, which spiralled from his shoulder blade down to around his right hand. Joong could only groan and hid his head beneath his pillow.


End file.
